Google Plus Hangouts are the social media order this year. Ever since the top brass made good use of the medium to connect with their fans and followers, this free video chat service by Google has found greater adoption by others. Everybody from film stars to politicians and now IPL cricketers are waking up to the medium and connecting live with their fans.

As part of being the official grooming partner for the IPL teams of Rajasthan Royals and SunRisers Hyderabad, Garnier Men conducted a Google Plus Hangout with players from both the teams on the 26th of April from 9 pm to 10 pm. While the Hangout was moderated by Deepak Gopalakrishnan, it was joined by Rahul Dravid, the captain of Rajasthan Royals and Paddy Upton, the coach, along with Kumar Sangakkara, the captain of SunRisers Hyderabad accompanied by Kris Srikkanth and VVS Laxman, the two mentors of SunRisers Hyderabad.

While this maybe a unique Google Plus Hangout that brought both teams together, it was also quite successful in bringing fans, sports bloggers and cricketers together to discuss cricket and many other fun topics like grooming styles, mental and physical strength, etc. The main questions and discussions revolved around the IPL though.

Creating buzz for the Hangout

The Hangout was promoted well in advance on the social media platforms of Garnier Men, by Foxymoron, a social media marketing and digital solutions agency, in charge of the social media activities for the men’s grooming brand. A couple of days prior to the Hangout, the brand organized two contests on its Twitter page – #AskDravid and #AskSangakkara. The interactions were fruitful with Garnier garnering a range of fun questions from the fans, some of which were featured in the Hangout as well.

On the day of the Hangout, the event was promoted using the hashtag #GarnierMenHangout where the handle encouraged Twitter users to join the event livestream by sharing ongoing updates. Also, the best questions would get featured on the Hangout. This was also in synch with updates on the Facebook page of Garnier Men, encouraging fans to communicate through Twitter. The more than 1.9 million strong fan base was kept abreast of the latest developments on the Hangout through a cover page, images, Facebook Event and information about activities on Twitter.

The Hangout effects

Garnier received close to 200 interactions in total. Also, almost 20,000 people clicked on the link taking them to the live Hangout. To add to this, 65 new followers joined the Garnier Men Google Plus page while 356 people joined the event and 1,619 joined the event page on Facebook. The Hangout video has got almost 125 comments on it, most of them either being questions for the players or comments complimenting the event.

The Hangout seems to have been well promoted with a range of interesting contests for the fans and the chance to have their questions answered by the cricketers themselves, proved enough of a pull here. Promoting a Hangout on Google Plus using the existing fan base on popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter, has done the trick for a successful Hangout bringing fans closer to their idols.

Besides, the Hangout has also helped promote the social initiative of lighting up powerless villages in rural India – ‘PowerLight a Village’ by Garnier Men India. The brand has been extensively spreading the word through a range of activities both online and offline, involving the social media community and with the help of the IPL cricketers.

Hangouts maybe an answer to connect with your community, but campaigns like this one show what goes behind hosting a successful one. What do you think?